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Abe Lagrimas Jr. Musicians gather at Hawaii Theatre for the music festival of the summer
Meet Abe Lagrimas Jr., calculated risk taker. And you must excuse the young and talented multi-instrumentalist if he seems a bit distracted these days. Lagrimas just finished guesting on vibes at last weekend's Don Tiki stage shows at the Hawaiian Hut, and now he has to switch gears to being one of the featured musicians at this year's edition of the Hawaii International Jazz Festival. The 22-year-old will step out on stage from behind the drum kit (where he was the festival's house percussionist last year) to show off his skills on the ukulele as part of both the Hawaiian Strings showcase Friday night -- along with slack-key guitarist Jeff Peterson (see story at right) and steel guitarist Owana Salazar -- and the following night as a member of Waitiki in an exotica tribute to the late Martin Denny. Lagrimas has wrapped up his studies in music education at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Mass., now a second home for him and where his other musical projects, like Waitiki, are based out of. And while he's made his reputation as a fine and facile drummer, Lagrimas has been working on his chops on the uke -- which are pretty darn good, considering he's strictly a by-ear player -- as a way of staying connected to his island roots. ON THE DAY we meet up with him, he proudly shows off his special edition Ko'olau four-string ukulele, made of Brazilian rosewood and spruce, secured by a koa wood binding, and his name "Abe" in white marine pearl inlay in the neck. "I took up the uke around April of 2003," he said. It was a time when he was away for an extended time at school and, by chance, some friends of his from nearby Boston University asked him to help provide the musical entertainment at a luau they were putting on. So since he was listening to ukulele jazz master Lyle Ritz's recordings while at Berklee, why not take up the uke himself? So Lagrimas played a couple of standard tunes, things like the Ka'au Crater Boys. The response was so favorable, and Lagrimas was jazzed, so to speak, by the uke's sound, that "when I went home in the summer, I basically taught myself to play more," broadening his inspiration from just Ritz to include the late guitar master Joe Pass' work. When he went back to Berklee in the fall, he started up the trio Waitiki with fellow students Randy Wong on bass and Brian O'Neill on vibes. The band was formed initially to play at a tiki-theme bar in Beantown, "but even though we ended up not getting the gig there, we've played in other places in Boston, as well as Pittsburgh and in Rhode Island. Next we'll be doing a tiki festival in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., called the Hukilau." (O'Neill will be switching to piano during the Denny tribute at the festival this weekend, as Waitiki will play with guests Gabe Baltazar, Jason Segler and James Ganeko, doing the hits of the main man of exotica.) And on top of all this, Lagrimas wrapped up recording last month his first album of all original material titled "Charred Mammal Flesh" -- inspired by the hilarious Conehead characters of "Saturday Night Live" -- to be released sometime in December. "The solo album is basically a ukulele album, and I do all the composing and arranging," he said. LAGRIMAS leaves for Boston soon after the festival is pau, to start promotion for Waitiki's own album, out on Sept. 16, as well as continue work on yet another side project of Lagrimas', a band called Prelude, made up of fellow Berklee students and alumni, which has been focusing on the Korean market. Formed in the fall of 2003, the band has been to South Korea twice, over the past two winter breaks from school. "We just recorded our debut album this past June in Boston and are anticipating a December release in Korea," Lagrimas said. "I always try to give every gig and recording session 110 percent," he said. "I feel that I am extremely fortunate to have such a talent that I should never take it for granted. I approach my music very seriously and try to gain and absorb as much knowledge about music, whether it be composing, learning new instruments, and constantly listening to all genres of music. "When I perform, I always keep in mind that music is art and that I be as creative as possible, yet play to my highest potential. I also try to take a lot of risks, and that keeps the creativity flowing. It's awesome when I try to do something I've never done before in a live situation and be able to pull it off." Home
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